Commissioner Wilhoit said that many of the components in the
federal law echo the key elements of the Kentucky Education Reform Act. He said
that in the last few years legislative action has caused the Kentucky Board of
Education to establish three broad areas for the Department of Education’s
work: increased and high level student achievement, teaching and administrative
support, and a strong and supportive environment for each student. He said
these elements can also be found throughout the federal legislation. He said
that this Act pushes the issue of accountability for results to a higher level
than has been seen before. It also promises increased flexibility at the local
level, and expands opportunities for parents to make decisions in terms of
failing schools. It also pushes the issue of teacher quality.

Commissioner Wilhoit said that Title I, the major federal
program, still focuses on disadvantaged children. He said that the legislation
requires a state plan that establishes high academic goals for all students by
setting standards that all students must reach. He said that it requires three
specific levels of achievement for all the students. States will have to define
proficiency in terms of student performance. Mr. Wilhoit said that the law asks
states to have a single statewide accountability system that includes rewards
and sanctions, and to align all the standards to what is being done in
professional development, teacher preparation, and in instructional design. He
said that in terms of using services of federal resources, that all these
elements must come together.

Commissioner Wilhoit said the mew legislation requires a new
concept of adequate yearly progress and requires a timeline for achieving the
federal goals for the next twelve years that will lead to the year 2014, the
same year that Kentucky has set as an achievement goal for Kentucky schools. He
said there will be annual assessments to be in place for mathematics and
reading and sets a future goal for science assessments. He said that it asks
states to deal with the issue of race, disabilities, and socio-economic status
and to break those categories into specific goals and achievements. He said
that states will be required to participate in the National Assessment of
Education Progress. The law requires local school district and state report
cards. Kentucky has report cards but will have to revisit the issues of state
local report cards.

Commissioner Wilhoit said that Kentucky has been asked to
design a beginning plan that would serve as a basis for the flow through of
money that will begin in July. He said that there are deadlines toward
achieving all the goals that will be over the next few years. He said that the
assessment and accountability issues have been discussed with the National Technical
Panel on Assessment and Accountability, with the School Curriculum Assessment
and Accountability School Council, and now with the Education Assessment and
Accountability Review Subcommittee. He said that the goal is to implement this
federal law.

Mr. Kevin Noland discussed the Teacher Quality and Reading
First sections of the bill as well as the accountability issues. Mr. Noland
said that Kentucky will have a net increase of 45 million dollars. He said that
there is a net ten million dollar increase in Title I and an eight million
dollar net increase in the early reading initiative program. He said that there
is also a 15 million dollar net increase in the special education area.

Mr. Noland said that federal legislation requires that math
and reading assessment be done in grades three through eight by the school year
2005-2006. He said that Kentucky currently does not assess math in grades four
and seven, and does not assess reading in grades five and eight. He said that
the National Technical Panel on Assessment and Accountability is working on
options such as adding some norm reference math and reading tests in those
grades supplemented by open response questions so that this could be tied to
Kentucky’s core content. An outgrowth of that would allow a longitudinal
measure in grades three through eight.

Mr. Noland said that under the federal system are students
with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency, low income
students, and members of racial or ethnic groups also must meet the goals. He
said that schools with less than ten students in any one of these groups are
exempt. He said that the Kentucky Department of Education is in discussions
with the United States Department of Education regarding the sub-populations
and what types of flexibly will be available. Mr. Noland said that seven
percent of the funding for Kentucky’s public elementary and secondary schools
comes from federal funds. He said that in the past the federal program has
focused on helping certain targeted students, but the new law targets
accountability for schools and for all students.

Mr. Noland said that under the new federal legislation there
is a pass and fail system. He said that either a student is at proficiency or
he is not. He said that if this legislation was put in place in Kentucky at
this time, then only 45 schools would be classified as successful out of 1287
public elementary and secondary schools. He said that the National Technical
Panel on Assessment and Accountability believes that Kentucky needs to speak up
to the federal government to make certain there is a more statistically sound
way to approach this as the federal model is placed on the state model already
in place in Kentucky. He said that the system in the federal law is set up as a
disincentive to a state having high standards. He said that the panel is in
favor of the way Kentucky does the composite of all the content areas, as well
as the non-academic areas.

Representative Moberly asked about the consequences of
failure. Mr. Noland said consequences are at the school, district, and state
levels. He said that funding could be lost at the state level. The consequence
at the school level, would be a school improvement plan, public school choice,
and supplemental educational services. He said that after four years of not
making goals, there would be a school take over, replacing staff, and putting a
highly skilled educator to run the school.

Representative Moberly asked if there would be a federal
baseline imposed. Mr. Noland said that there is not a federal baseline, but
that each state will design their own assessment and accountability system.
Commissioner Wilhoit said that Kentucky will use its reestablished baseline
created after HB 53 passed in 1998. He said that the most of this federal plan
is still undetermined.

Dr. Lois Adams-Rogers said that in 1998 the Teacher Quality
Task Force provided a framework to think about issues relating to teacher
quality as it relates to the professional growth fund, teacher mentors, teacher
academies and the types of additional training that No Child Left Behind sets
forth in this part of the legislation. She said that the bottom line is making
sure that the right teacher is in the classroom and the right administrator is
in every building by 2005-2006. She said that the focus is with programs like
the Future Educator Associations in the high school that are starting to
recruit young people into the teaching profession. She said that House Bill 402
(2002) gives an opportunity to craft ways to recruit individuals through a
differentiated compensation plan. She said that the state money that is
available can be used to implement House Bill 402 that deals with the pilot of
differentiated compensation plans. She said that Kentucky has tools that other
states do not have such as the professional growth fund, the mentoring fund,
support for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and salary
supplements. She said that a new requirements is that paraprofessionals be
qualified by having completed two years of postsecondary study, obtained an
associates degree or higher, or meet a standard of quality through a state
assessment in instruction of reading, writing, and math. She said that the
Kentucky Community and Technical College System has a program that enables
individuals that are non-certified and work in preschool programs to get a
Child Development Associates Certificate. She said that the University of
Kentucky, the Institute for Human Development, has a program for special
education aides, with a core set of knowledge for individuals who take the
course. She said that paraprofessionals have four years to meet the criteria.
She said that Kentucky’s early reading incentive grant provides the opportunity
to use research-based and reliable practices in reading instruction in the
earliest level of elementary school. She said that Reading First takes it
further and targets schools that meet criteria that is set by the federal
government. She said that the department has identified 81 school districts who
will be eligible to apply for the funds. She said that there is eleven million
dollars in grants to implement what is referenced in the federal legislation as
a scientifically based reading program. She said that a portion of the
application was submitted at the end of May.

Representative Moberly asked if the reading grants were one
time money. She said that there are 81 school districts with 65 eligible
schools that must meet the criteria over a six year period of time.

Representative Treesh questioned the value of the older
instructional aides getting a two year degree. He said that the districts
should be able to shift those employees into positions that are non-federally
funded. He said that it will be a large impact that most of the districts will
be faced with. Mr. Noland said that the issue is a challenge and the department
is waiting on guidance from the federal level. Representative Treesh said that
one of his concerns is the issue of the test being statistically reliable and
valid. He asked how long will it take to demonstrate it. Helen Mountjoy, chair,
Kentucky Board of Education said that there is a plan for validity studies that
is an ongoing project.

Commissioner Wilhoit said that the issue of sub-populations
is a major piece of this legislation, so the point about making judgements
about the sub-population is going to be an important part of reporting to the
federal government. He said that it is going to be necessary to look at
individual student achievement by disability, socio-economic level, language
proficiency, and by race. He said that these are critical points and this will
be the one area of accountability that the federal government will hold a
strong line on. Representative Treesh asked if the state test would have to be
changed to conform with those goals. Commissioner Wilhoit said that those are
all issues to be determined.

Senator Kelly asked about the eleven million dollars and
asked if there was a match to be met by the local schools. Dr. Adams-Rogers
said there is a required match for some portions of the funds. She said that
one of the purposes is that a reading coach be available. Senator Kelly said
that he would like to know the number of schools that have a need verses the
number of schools that have been served traditionally. He asked how long it
will take before there is assurance that every child who needs intensive
intervention has a trained teacher available working in a suitable program to
make sure they can get intervention that is needed. He asked if the department
was able, with the six years of funding and what is already available, to get a
idea of where it stands. He asked if any of this money will be available for
the training of teachers, so that a school district can use these funds to send
their teachers to be trained in the new training opportunities that have been
created. Dr. Adams-Rogers said that aside from the Kentucky Reading Program,
there are also teacher academies and there have also been some elementary and
middle school academies added.

Representative Moberly asked if criteria had been developed
for the recipients for the money. Mr. Mike Miller, Director of Curriculum,
Department of Education, said that the proposals have not been developed, but
criteria was included in the application to the federal government for the
funds.

Representative Moberly asked about proposals and strategies
for the committee to review. Mr. Noland said that was the plan and the purpose
of this meeting was to inform the committee of the specifics known at this
point. He said that the process is to be sure of what the perameters are and
then identify some permissible options.

Commissioner Wilhoit said that the big issue is the teacher
certification issue and what will have to be done to get all the teachers in
the classroom certified. He said that Kentucky is moving in the opposite
direction with all the emergency certified teachers. Representative Moberly
asked if the federal law required there to be no emergency certified teachers
by 2005. Commissioner Wilhoit said it was to be 2006.

Mr. Noland went over Administrative Regulation 703 KAR
5:070. It currently states that students with limited English proficiency can
be in an English speaking school for two years before being tested on the CATS
assessment. He said the thought was for the student to learn the English
language and to learn English content areas before being tested. He said that
the 1994 federal law said that had to be completed in one year, but there are
34 states not in compliance. Kentucky has had a waiver but under the new law,
Kentucky will lose 25 percent of the funding if this is not amended to conform
to the one year requirement.